Steam to offer non game applications – Video Games Update

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Steam to offer non game applications – Video Games Update
It seems that Valve will also be expanding to offer more than just video games on its digital distribution service Steam as the company is planning to bring software to the platform.
Gamers have mixed reactions to the news that Steam will no longer be exclusive to Video Games but will also be offering third party software for the PC much like the Apple App Store. Valve has stated that this upcoming feature has been requested by many
fans. It was actually all the fan demand that forced Valve to consider bringing Applications to Steam.
This is also a great move from a business standpoint as Electronic Arts has also entered Digital Distribution with full force with its Origin Client and despite the initial rage and hate by the majority of gamers; Origin is gradually picking up speed as
the install base grows. The reason why Origin is doing so well is basically the exclusivity of the PC version of Battlefield 3 to the client. Other popular Electronic Arts games are also usually exclusive to Origin on the PC and end up on other digital distribution
sites much later.
Valve’s Steam however does have a marginal lead with over 40 million users in its install base. With access to such a large user base and competitors slowly gaining market share it makes perfect sense for Valve to diversify and expand before the competitors
can catch up.
Valve has not mentioned any specific software which will be available on the Steam client but the company has mentioned that many of the applications will use the Steamworks features just like the majority of the games on Steam do, such as automatic updates.
The news of App support on Steam also opens up many possibilities for new developers as they can use the upcoming Steam Greenlight feature to get their projects noticed by the public.
The possible downside of this might be that majority of the Apps purchased through Steam might be permanently connected to the digital distribution platform. This means that users will have to continue using Steam if they want access to the application they
purchased through Steam. Gamers who are opposed to any kind of digital rights management (DRM) locks are complaining that this is basically just adding DRM to software.
Will Valve be successful in converting the games only client into an all out App Store? Gamers will just have to wait and see.